All About FERS- Learning More About FEGLI

Hi, my name is Mike Lanway, I'm a financial planner. I'm an expert in federal employee benefits, and I'm here to help you decide what you need to do to make best use of those benefits to your advantage. 

Federal Employee Group Life Insurance: FEGLI. Remember, we throw around these acronyms. It's the opportunity to have some insurance based on whatever your salary is. It's some insurance on yourself, and you can do that in three different forms. 

• FEGLI Basic;
• FEGLI Option A; 
• FEGLI Option B. 

The Options are contingent on you being enrolled in FEGLI Basic, so let me cover that part of it first. If you're in your first 60 days of employment, you can enroll in FEGLI without any underwriting. They they won't ask you anything about your health history, they won't ask you anything about your current health status, and they won't ask you anything about your family's health history. Just enroll. Simple.  If you're in that period, do it because it's really a good opportunity, and we can always dis-enroll. We can't always automatically enroll. The only time we can automatically enroll is in that 60 day window.

So take a look at it, think about it if you're in that 60 day window. In my opinion, you auto-enroll and then maybe decide after that, "maybe I don't really need it," and then you dis-enroll. But, I really believe that everyone could benefit from being in the program because it's a unique type of insurance. It's not really term insurance, not really permanent insurance, but it's insurance that can last your lifetime. What I hope you'll do is consider it for yourself now. 

For everybody else, if you didn't enroll in FEGLI, you can enroll in it now if you want to, but you have to apply. You have to fill out an application, you have to supply your current health history, you have to supply your current health status, and then you have to supply your family's health history. All that matters, and they can decide, "No, I really don't want to offer you a policy," or they can decide, "yes, you can have a policy," but it is their decision, not yours. 

It's a little bit different once you're past that 60 day window of appointment. So help me help you by just thinking through what amount of life insurance you actually need on yourself? What amount do you need on someone else? Where is the best place to get it? Even though you're past your 60 day window, FEGLI should be a consideration. If it is a consideration, you should know how how it works throughout your lifetime, and that's what this is. 

We hope you enjoyed our video series on the different components of your retirement and your benefits. If you want to see more, learn more at your own pace, use our annual benefit statement. You'll see the link at the bottom and within the description. Go there, take a look at it, we think you'll be happy with what you see and and that it's going to help you.